Ferrari 1 Tommy Ferrari Assignment #1 Educating Students with Exceptionalities

1) Why an!t We Say "andicapped#$ Why is the language used to refer to people with disabilities so important? As educators% we need to &e sensiti'e to the language we use when we re(er to people with disa&ilities) We want to a'oid ma*ing +udgments &ased on a person +ust &ecause they ha'e a certain disa&ility) We don!t want to put the person down% &ut we also don!t want to o'eremphasi,e how heroic they are (or li'ing with the disa&ility) We +ust want to identi(y them in a neutral way% which is the way that they would want to &e identi(ied) -nstead o( saying an autistic child or a child &attling autism% we want to address them as a child with autism) This puts (ocus on the child% rather than the disa&ility) We must &e aware o( our sensiti'ity towards these students)

.) ommon ore Standards/ What Special Educators 0eed to 1now$ What are the common core standards? The common core standards are the state standards that pro'ide instruction (or all students in English2language arts and mathematics) The English2language arts and mathematics standards (or grades 131. were de'eloped in colla&oration with a 'ariety o( sta*eholders% including content experts% states% teachers% school administrators% and parents% esta&lishing clear and consistent goals (or learning that will prepare America!s children (or success in college and wor*) How have these been an improvement on NCLB?

Ferrari 2 The degree o( attention to the indi'iduali,ed learning needs o( students with disa&ilities was insu((icient in 0o hild 4e(t 5ehind 60 45)) -ts greater presence within the S spea*s to

the hard wor* o( sta*eholder associations% states% and others as the standards were created and re'ised) This attention highlights and strengthens the 'alue o( the special educator in &ringing to general curriculum instruction expertise in indi'iduali,ation and the research3&ased teaching) What difficulties are there for ensuring special education students meet these standards? The most signi(icant challenge will &e in preparing and (urther de'eloping the *nowledge and s*ills o( not only special educators% &ut all teachers who are sharing the instructional responsi&ilities (or students with disa&ilities)

7) The -ssues o( -8EA$ For each of the following areas listed, describe briefly the problem s! that threaten the full implementation of "#$%& Funding3 State (unding (or -8EA 'aries widely) And small districts that recei'e little state (unding are particularly 'ulnera&le3 when one or more students! indi'iduali,ed education plans call (or extremely expensi'e ser'ices% the entire 131. &udget can &e a((ected) 'eachers3 9any districts lac* well3:uali(ied special education teachers) There is a great shortage o( teachers needed to teach students with special needs) -n addition to this% districts ha'e reported shortages o( special education administrators% parapro(essionals% and other school sta(( as well as disa&ility specialists% such as speech2language pathologists) Civil (ights vs) $ducation3 ;nce -8EA mandated that schools educate all students% including students with disa&ilities< there &ecame an o'eremphasis on the process o( pro'iding students with educational ser'ices)

Ferrari 3 "dentification3 4a&eling a student as special needs$ is a li(e3long commitment that a((ects the rest o( his or her education career and li(e) School o((icials must ma*e sure that the identi(ication process is extremely accurate) The student must truly need special education ser'ices and educators must do their &est to a'oid under3identi(ication or o'er3identi(ication) Litigation3 4ac* o( agreement on what constitutes an appropriate education (or students with disa&ilities has resulted in signi(icant increase in special education lawsuits) 4egal issues and the litigious nature o( -8EA are (re:uently cited as top deterrents to the law &y &oth ad'ocates (or the disa&led and school districts see*ing to ser'e them)